Katie Couric exits ABC News to join Yahoo

Pending deal has no effect on daytime talk show, which is still on bubble Katie Couric’s stint at ABC News is coming to a close. But her syndicated talk show could be another story. As first reported by The Hollywood reporter Friday evening, Ms. Couric is taking take a position at Yahoo!, the internet portal which was a huge player […]

“The Jeff Probst Show” canceled

I’ll bet you’ve heard a lot of this in the last 48 hours: Jeff Probst …the tribe has spoken. CBS Television Distribution voted The Jeff Probst Show off the talk show island after one season, as the program could not find an audience. The Survivor host’s daytime talker had been averaging around a 0.7 Nielsen household live-plus same-day rating this […]

“Katie” clears 60% of U.S. for Fall ’12 launch

Disney-ABC Domestic Television Distribution’s new fall 2012 talk show strip featuring Katie Couric has now been cleared in 60 percent of the country. Titled Katie, the series has now cleared though several broadcast groups including Allbritton, Belo, Cox, Hearst, Gannett, and Scripps, in addition to the entire ABC-owned-and-operated station group (including WLS-TV here in Chicago.) To no one’s surprise, most […]

Bears-Lions tackles competitors onto turf

ESPN’s Monday Night Football tilt between the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions was a success for ESPN and the city of Detroit – but not for the Bears. The game on WCIU earned a 13.4 household rating and a 20 share while ESPN pulled a 18.8/27, combining for an overall 32.2/47, easily outdrawing other series in the Chicago market, including […]

ABC sells two stations back to previous owners

In a rare move in the industry, The Walt Disney Company announced the sale of two of its O&Os – back to its previous owners. According to Broadcasting & Cable, WJRT-TV in Flint, Mich. (serving the Flint/Saginaw/Bay City market) and WTVG in Toledo, Ohio were sold back to SJL Broadcast Management, who sold the duo to what was then Capital […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: So what happens if "Oprah" exits?

With Oprah Winfrey scheduled to run her new cable network in a joint venture with Discovery beginning next year, there is increasing speculation she may discontinue her daily talk show strip when her contract with CBS Television Distribution expires in 2011. The speculation increased when Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav revealed in an earnings report a few days ago that […]

Local May sweeps numbers, Part 1

Overall analysis: While the major networks lost steam in the recently concluded May sweeps, many local stations actually saw increases year-to-year in late news and in other time periods. Translation: Viewers are tuning out the prime-time shows on the major networks, but not local programming or local news on their affiliates. Boston: CBS-owned WBZ-TV pulled off a major upset by […]

Local TV show gets canned in the K.C.

The new version of local TV – you know, the one in which advertisers pay money to have their product or service plugged on the show – has taken a hit with the dissolvement of Kansas City Live, KSHB-TV’s low-rated one-hour infotainment program. The Hour Magazine clone, which airs at 10 a.m. on the Scripps-owned NBC affiliate, is being replaced […]

It’s a "Deal" for WMAQ-TV

Note: The link to the story may require registration. NBC Universal’s Deal or No Deal weekday syndicated strip has been sold to a few NBC O&Os, including WMAQ-TV in Chicago, as well as to stations owned by CBS, Allbritton, Scripps, and Sinclair. The program will be hosted by Howie Mandel and feature the same elements as the prime-time show – […]

WJBK back in the news game at 11

We have The Ten, they will have The Edge. WJBK-TV, the Fox-owned station in Detroit, is returning to the 11 p.m. newscast race effective on September 24 named The Edge. WJBK had news in the 11 p.m. slot when it was a CBS affiliate, but was moved to 10 p.m. when the station was switched to Fox by then-owner New […]